As burners waited in the five-hour line to leave Black Rock City for the default world Monday morning, participants still at the event broke down camp, packed up art cars and dissembled sculptures.

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Off with her head! El Pulpo Mecanicos gets decapitated for the ride home to Humboldt County.

As burners waited in the five-hour line to leave Black Rock City for the default world Monday morning, participants still at the event broke down camp, packed up art cars and dissembled sculptures.

This year seemed to have been the easiest year ever for citizens of Black Rock City, with no white-outs, mild weather, and incredibly hard packed ground.

People of Burning Man 2011

It was a perfect year for the lucky 53,700+ who ended up getting a ticket in time for the event. So far no reports of accidental deaths or major drug busts, but word on those often take time to travel through the city.

There were a number of amazing art cars driving around this year, many of them massive carrying what seemed to be hundreds of people.

Art of Burning Man

There seemed to be less fire art than in years past, but many more projects using light. There was a “Main Street” of art along the Temple that made seeing pieces easier as they were much closer to each other. However, that cut down on the “fun is in the search” part of riding out in the open playa looking for a piece.

The three big burns of the year: the Trojan Horse on Friday night, the Man on Saturday night, and the Temple of Transition on Sunday night, seemed to all beautifully go off without a hitch.

And, again, the weather was incredible! No rain, no dust storms, no whiteouts, not too hot in the day and aside from one or two cold nights, fairly mild the rest of the week.

If this was your first year, know that we all got very lucky, and it isn’t always like this. Now, let’s hope for a repeat in 2012.